Re: Quick Terminology Poll

> Van: [email protected]
> Verzonden: woensdag 1 februari 2006 19:22
>

[...]

> Even after using these techniques for years, I still think of them as
messy,
> and I wish there were a better way to force "enlightenment" on an
> "unenlightened world." Have any of you had better luck than I have at just
> writing a definition and making it stick?

Unfortunately, no :) Actually, I think what you describe is probably the
only sensible way of "controlling the vocabulary" in a given setting. And to
be fair, this is not just a CMS problem, it's a broader problem of outlining
the ontology of what you're describing. At some point you get accustomed
with the ever changing meaning - I know at least five different meanings in
different systems for the words "scope" and "view" - and you start getting
things straight by asking "so, ok, what's a 'view' in this context?". With
our current web CMS implementation I made a mantra of "publication - chapter
- section - page" as the hierarchy - it's only valid in this specific
implementation of this specific CMS, but I have to have something to refer
to very abstract collections of content items.
	 
> All that said, I always start with a trusted glossary (if one exists), so
I
> second Bob's suggestion of starting with the CM glossary on our own
website --
> it's been forged during many heated debates!

Well... I'm totally agreeing it would be great to have a common vocabulary -
even if only in English - and I certainly feel this is one of the important
things CM Pros could get done. I remain somewhat sceptical though if this is
possible right now, mostly because of the very different ways different
systems tackle different problems -- the lack of fixed definitions might not
be so much a problem of using the same words, but of defining the process ;)
	 
> So . . . what is everyone's favorite GENERIC term for "content"? I don't
like
> it much, because it's mostly associated with web content, and a lot of
people
> who deal mostly with print don't relate to it at all. I also don't like
> "text," because that's often used to differentiate "text" from "graphics."
> What's the broadest term for "the stuff we're all talking about"? 

The broadest term would probably be "information". But then people will tell
you it's only "information" if it has meaning. So I guess we're stuck with
"content" as the most generic term, until we make up a new word for it :)


Adriaan M. Bloem
__

Project Manager
ICS Web Communication / Infra,
Leiden University

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